by M. J Kreyzer
Elemental is what Durants are best known for. Theoretically, there is an infinite number of manipulations that can be produced through Elemental. Complete descriptions for the dozen Elemental manipulations are available here.
Vampires
Following their migration from Andoria, the Autocthonid tribal offshoot that would eventually become vampires settled in eastern Elvytica. It's here where, over the next 5000 years, these Autocthonids would eventually evolve into the modern day Vampire.
During the initial stages of the new civilization erected in eastern Elvytica, the Autocthonids were faced almost immediately with drought and famine. With their civilization nestled into the rocky peaks of the Kyrgenti mountains, these Autocthonids eventually had to turn to find alternate forms of sustenance.
Cannibalism was, of course, out of the question. However, finding that essential nutrients could be found in blood, the Autocthonids turned to a new practice. This practice of blood consumption proved to be effective with many Autocthonids being assigned to three or four others as to create a reliable and steady source of nutrition. Eventually, their bodies required less and less blood to survive while their metabolisms slowed to a crawl to compensate for their lack of food. Individuals born whose bodies weren't able to survive on such scarce amounts of food would quickly die, accelerating the effects of natural selection.
Eventually these external forces caused vampires to develop canines with tips like needles with a diamond hardness, allowing for them to puncture arteries and draw out blood without causing their subjects to bleed to death. The necessity to adapt to the dearth of food caused them to develop a genetically gaunt, nearly malnourished appearance while maintaining a small, dense, powerful muscular structure.
While other results of the Autocthonid evolutionary chain such as Durants, Altigans, Sirens or Arctanicans do not possess sensitivities to light, the Autocthonids that would serve as precursors to Werewolves and Vampires came from the same family. In this family's genetics was a mutated gene, this mutated gene causing a sensitivity to light. As this sensitivity evolved uniquely to the Vampires, this sensitivity came in the form of moderate to severe sunburns. However, having dwelt in an area where direct sunlight is nearly nonexistent, this trait increased in its severity to the point where direct sun exposure would most often result in severe, third degree burns while several minutes of direct sun exposure would lead to death.
Other defining characteristics of Vampires, including the light, gliding like motion with which they move, came as a result for the dire need to sneak up on and kill what little life they came across.
Werewolves
During the Autocthonids' southern Exodus, the precursors to the modern day werewolf would split off from the main group and migrate towards western Elvytica while another group would branch off and head east. This group of Autocthonids would eventually disperse and spread out across the whole of the western Elvytican coastline.
Over the course of several thousand years, the werewolf nation would eventually evolve around a small, minute anomaly within the genetics that they inherited from their Autocthonid predecessors. At a cellular level, the same organelle that triggered a physical response within vampires would eventually trigger a physical response within werewolves.
In their new environment, survival was pinned solely to one's ability to capture food. This necessity would eventually result in the melding together of one individual's DNA with that of a wolf, an occurrence that came with the double sided nature of Autocthonid DNA. This duality came as part of a recessive Autocthonid gene that, before the assimilation of wolf DNA, remained vacant.
The purpose for this evolution is said to be the result of the Autocthonid's need for speed and stealth. With their prey being faster, more agile, and more acutely aware, it became necessary for the Autocthonids to evolve beyond the physical capabilities of a human being. The solution, as it turned out, came to be taking advantage of their own genetic makeup and making it possible for them to transform into something that was physically capable of capturing prey in the dark of night.
Altigan
A sub race of humans that possess all the qualities of Humanity while maintaining a Durant lifespan.
Humans
Humans are the biological opposites of Durants. While Vampires, Sirens, Werewolves, and all other races possess characteristics of the Autocthonid race, Humans have shed all
Autocthonids
Autocthonids were, according to available evidence, the precursors to modern humanity. It's from their genes that that Durants, Werewolves, Vampires, Sirens, Arctanicans, and Humans would eventually evolve. Autocthonids were believed to be extremely powerful beings, possessing perfect harmony with the universe and even being students and practitioners of Elemental. As ages passed, with their abilities proving to be of little use, these powerful qualities of the Autocthonids would slowly disappear as they would evolve to better suit their surroundings, maintaining only the qualities for which they had use while simultaneously repurposing others. The closest living relative of the Autocthonid is the Durant.
Organizations
The Ditrinity
Based around the Runic idea, 'Ditrinity' translates directly into 'life or death devotion'. No matter the occasion, the Ditrinity always has six members. In the case of a vacancy, a replacement would have to be found immediately with these replacements most often coming from senior members of the Warrior class of Durants, better known to historians as Semprans, their population comprised of devout warrior monks. This was done as relationships between the Durant orthodoxy and their Sempran offshoot improved. Later this practice evolved to the point where the senior member of the Semprys family would select Ditrinity members from their circle of close friends in a war-driven era where to survive was to be well versed in the arts of war.
In 585 M.E after the death of Mark Semprys and a young boy presumed to be his son, it was discovered that Mark's son had, in fact, survived, and the Ditrinity was established to prevent this sort of incident from occurring ever again. The end of the Semprys lineage would mean the end of the line of Durant prophets.
The Ditrinity disbanded in 204 M.I after the death of Leon Semprys and the presumed death of his son Luke. It was later reestablished after the discovery in the early stages of the Damidian War that the boy Mylo was, in fact, the last surviving member of the Semprys lineage. The practice of maintaining six members at all times was loosely held from then on and the Ditrinity membership fluctuated throughout the Damidian and Relias wars all the way up until the death of Ayla Reyrock in 248 M.I at which point Nathan Hendrick joined and filled the vacancy she left behind, resulting in the full membership of the Ditrinity for the longest period of time since it had been disbanded 44 years earlier.
The 451's
A regional gang based out of the town of Desden located in the Argintic region of Northern Solara, the 451's ran a small, ragtag criminal underground that stretched along the Argintic Front, having established presences in Desden, Breckinridge, and Brackis. It was first established in 112 M.I as there was an increase of trade along the Argintic Front and the towns built along it increased in population. As anarchists, the 451's committed a series of hate crimes aimed at human citizens establishing residences in towns that were predominantly Altigan. Their signature was fire, this calling card being used in a prolonged serial crime spree stretching across several decades. Eventually it was disbanded in 229 M.I. following a violent urban conflict with Nathan Hendrick and his newly established four-man war machine known as the Helldogs. Its residual membership eventually joined the ranks of the Dakuya as it continued its hostile takeover of Northern Solara amidst the chaos created by the Relias Wars.
The Darks
Historically, there are two different groups of Darks. The first group of Darks were orthodox Durants, completely devout to their religion and maintaining an isolation from the world. This isolation was desirable as the Darks (labeled as such by a number of corrupt Durant sects)
hoped to separate themselves and rid themselves of what they felt to be the perpetuating corrosion of the Durant faith. As such, this migration to north-central Marsecta took place in 1453 M.E. Based out of the city of Brysdal, the Darks found the solitude and complete isolation that they sought in the center of the Brysdal's Alternate Time Field and the accompanying Dead Zone. There, over the course of several hundred years (several thousand by their standards) the Darks constructed Brysdal by carving out the center of a mammoth plateau located in the northern regions of central Marsecta. Due to their isolation and the complete absence of war, death was almost non-existent among the purely Durant population. Their leader, who had been their leader since their initial migration, was Reyzer Phanti, a Durant with teleportation as his Singularity.
Towards the end of the Medieval Epoch, knowledge of the Darks became known as Dark hunting parties were discovered in Central Marsecta by human explorers originating from Eastern Solara just nine hundred miles west. After a series of exchanges between the two groups, it was discovered that the Darks were orthodox Durants while, over the years, the Darks were inaccurately viewed as an extremist cult. This extremism would later prove crucial to their image as during the early stages of the Union's subversion in 246 M.I., they were scapegoated for the assassinations of two Durant Senators from Elysium. This image persisted through until the creation of the United Commune, used to generate racist and hostile views from other citizens of the Commune not just towards the Darks but the Durant race as a whole. After the abolition of the Freedom of Religion, the Durants and Durant disciples who once separated themselves from the Darks named themselves after them, forming the new Darks and making their name household.
The Enforcers
The Enforcers came about in 259 M.I following the defeat of Dark forces at Olsgrad Canyon. When it was clear that the Darks were incapable of waging effective war against the United Commune, former Dark members located all around Arctanica branched off to form a new rebellion known as the Enforcers.
The Enforcers, while having a small Durant membership, were made up primarily of Humans, Arctanicans and, though they were less common, Sirens. While the Darks were viewed to be a predominantly Durant movement, the Enforcers were able to capitalize on the discontent of many people who viewed the Darks as being inaccessible. As such, the broader population who was unhappy with the Commune , its deceit, and its hypocrisy and felt strongly enough that they felt the need to rebel, joined the ranks of the Enforcers.
In the years that followed the events at Olsgrad and the Enforcers' eventual formation, open warfare was generally avoided. While their presence was well known to the Communal leadership, their perceived pacifism convinced the Commune that they would lose more eliminating them than they would by ignoring them. The Enforcers, however, were rebuilding, and with the Darks being hopelessly fragmented it was viewed that they were the last hopes for the return of the Union. (One of the characteristics that best separates the Enforcers from the Darks is their ideology. While the Darks' movement was based around the restoration of the Relias ideology and their freedom to practice their religion, the Enforcers were more concerned about the restoration of the republic and democracy with absolutely no religious implications.)
The Enforcers are led by an Altigan known only as the Matriarch. While her name is unknown, her position as leader of the Enforcers is unquestioned as a result of her cunning in battle, her unwaveringly dominant personality, and her complete refusal to be wrong. Also of note is the complete volatility with which she communicates. The Enforcers are self-governed militarily, with the Matriarch's subsidiaries being referred to as 'the Collectors' who act as regional leaders within the organization. They have their own subordinates known as 'Arrogates' who micromanage the organization.
The United Commune
President (Emperor)- Marcus Lynch
Secretary of Defense/Vice-President- Count Ryder
Treasury Secretary- Count Valkner
General of the Communal Armies- Formerly General Francis Allred, succeeded by General Vladmir Frenz
Head of Communal Weapons Division- Ruby Moriarty
Currency- Steele
The United Commune is the government that was put in place of the Republican Union of Relias in 248 M.I. While it is asserted by the Darks resistance that the United Commune is, in fact, a fascist regime, it is hotly contested by many Communal party members including President Lynch himself that it is a government for the people and the good of the nation. While the history of the Commune is one of violence, it is deemed necessary to secure that safety of the nation and its people.
The Commune's totalitarian nature does not come through legislation. Marcus Lynch accurately believed that a nation cannot be forced into submission. Such a mindset would inevitably result in rebellion and a consequential disruption of the peace. Rather, their views and opinions must be altered to the point where their submission to the dictates of the Commune is not imposed, but made desirable. This feat would be accomplished through complete control of the media and all forms of mass communication. By controlling these outlets, the views of the people would effectively be altered to a degree where their hopes, dreams and goals were congruent with that of the Commune. And by putting control of the government's power and assets in the hands of a few immovable leaders, they would protect the nation from the ignorance and lamentable fallibility of the human race.
Operation
The United Commune operates on a constitution nearly identical to that of the Republican Union of Relias. However, key amendments directly relating to human rights have been met with abolition. As such, laws allowing the private ownership of guns and the practice of a number of religions have been made illegal while a number of other laws securing individuals from far reaching governmental practices have been removed at the request of the people.
With a constitution having reached the satisfaction of the Commune by 250 M.I, it became the goal of the Commune to maintain the sentiments and opinions of the people through a living regulatory document referred to as The Blacklist. This piece of legislation, dictated entirely by Marcus Lynch himself, orchestrates the delicate balance of right-wing and left-wing media to create an environment that best suits the advancement of the ideas and desires of the Commune.
The Blacklist
Simply put, the Blacklist isn't so much a list as it is a set of guidelines. It is the living It maintains a carefully authored balance that is maintained between both the liberal and conservative medias, this balance whittled down to perfection to create just the right amount of conservatism while maintaining a strong, liberal base. These guidelines define how and what is mass communicated. The Blacklist is a living document that changes daily to meet the needs of the Commune and to combat the challenges present in a constantly changing world. What the Blacklist says varies from media outlet to outlet, but its general message remains the same.
Media Control
"To control a man's media is to control his perspective, and by controlling his perspective you can control his beliefs. And by controlling his beliefs you can, with no large amount of effort, rule the world" - President Marcus Lynch
While most governments control through law and legislation, the United Commune believes in no such thing. Instead, by controlling the media, this media including but by all means not limited to film, television, and news, they were able to dictate how individuals felt on various issues. Through the media they created three trains of thought: Far right conservatism, Far left Liberalism, and Moderation. While the Commune originally desired to propagate ideas that were only congruent with those they wished the people to have, Lynch saw it differently. Instead, he realized that the most important tool in what was essentially mind control, was contrast. Without the far right to illustrate what Lynch felt to be the pervasive and regrettable stupidity of Conservative thought, there was no way to put the benefits and the brilliance of the Liberal Agenda in full perspective. So, with that in mind, Lynch ordered that a st
aunchly conservative news network be placed not only on the airwaves, but within one or two channel strokes of the extreme liberal news channel. A number of techniques were then used to break down the foundations of the Conservative movement and marginalize what 'victories' they achieved. (These victories, of course, were all at the Commune's design.) As an example, the Liberal channel expressed calm, political discourse, while the Conservative network expressed melodrama and harsh criticism. The opinions of these 'Conservatives' made the movement and lifestyle seem ridiculous, outdated, and ultimately laughable. Slowly and surely, society moved away from the conservatism that the Union was founded upon towards the liberalism that defines the Commune. And those who clinged to conservatism, more and more, seemed selfish, out of touch, with an unrelenting air of arrogance and bigotry. And while it wasn't the opinions that the Commune wished their citizens to have, these people served to galvanize the stronger, more populous base of liberals that comprised the vast majority of the Commune's citizenry. Ultimately, the world was fictitious, a story written at the hand of Marcus Lynch. But because the people believed it to be real and treated it as such, fiction became reality.
All in all, control of the media is the way that the Commune maintained control. They didn't force their citizens to do anything. Instead, they made them want to follow the lifestyles that the Commune wished them to live.